CSU Budget Woes Redux
From the Chancellor's Office:
Your tuition is going up again!
That's right. At the board meeting, held the week before Thanksgiving 2011, the CSU Board of Trustees approved a $498 per year undergraduate tuition increase, effective fall 2012.
Here's some of the other highlights from the CSUEB University Communique:
It seems ridiculous for the Chancellor's office to pin its budget hopes on the magnanimity of state lawmakers to "provide an additional $333 million in funding." Since there is virtually no chance that California will give any more money to the CSU system, this sounds like the CSU Board of Trustees is passing the buck.
Is it really true that 45 percent of the CSU student body pays nothing in tuition, so they won't be impacted by the tuition increase? Well, then who will be impacted by the tuition hike? Obviously, parents and students who are paying their college tuition bill, along with the taxpayers. If you have a job, you are a taxpayer - look at your paycheck stub.
If you are one of the students who pay nothing, would you be willing to pay $25 per quarter? The CSU currently educates approximately 412,000 students and if 45 percent of them are on financial aid that would raise $4,635,000 per quarter (412,000 students X 45% X $25) or $13,905,000 annually (3 semesters). While this is a long way from budget gap of $333 million, it's a start.
How about a progressive tuition plan? Student tuition could be based on family earnings, people who earn more would pay more.
How will you be impacted by this next round of tuition increases? If you were in charge, how would you raise revenues and lower costs in the California State University system?
That's right. At the board meeting, held the week before Thanksgiving 2011, the CSU Board of Trustees approved a $498 per year undergraduate tuition increase, effective fall 2012.
Here's some of the other highlights from the CSUEB University Communique:
*The CSU Board of Trustees adopted the 2012-13 budgetIt has been reported by Fox that "The increase will be on top of a 12 percent tuition hike that took effect this school year, and a 9 percent increase that was imposed in 2010."
*The CSU Board requests state lawmakers provide an additional $333 million in funding.
*Approximately $64 million in revenue would come from tuition fee revenues associated with enrollment growth of 5 percent (approx 20,000 students)
*Tuition for full time undergraduates would rise to $5,970 from $5472 in fall 2012.
*Approximately 45 percent of the CSU's undergraduates would not pay the tuition fee increase due to grants or aid. According to cappex.com 63 percent of CSUEB students receive financial aid.
*Households earning $70,000 or less qualify for financial aid.
It seems ridiculous for the Chancellor's office to pin its budget hopes on the magnanimity of state lawmakers to "provide an additional $333 million in funding." Since there is virtually no chance that California will give any more money to the CSU system, this sounds like the CSU Board of Trustees is passing the buck.
Is it really true that 45 percent of the CSU student body pays nothing in tuition, so they won't be impacted by the tuition increase? Well, then who will be impacted by the tuition hike? Obviously, parents and students who are paying their college tuition bill, along with the taxpayers. If you have a job, you are a taxpayer - look at your paycheck stub.
If you are one of the students who pay nothing, would you be willing to pay $25 per quarter? The CSU currently educates approximately 412,000 students and if 45 percent of them are on financial aid that would raise $4,635,000 per quarter (412,000 students X 45% X $25) or $13,905,000 annually (3 semesters). While this is a long way from budget gap of $333 million, it's a start.
How about a progressive tuition plan? Student tuition could be based on family earnings, people who earn more would pay more.
How will you be impacted by this next round of tuition increases? If you were in charge, how would you raise revenues and lower costs in the California State University system?
I think it's ridiculous how our tuition increases every quarter. Of course, students get hit the hardest. Since I don't get financial aid, I have to take out loans and that debt will keep piling up until I graduate and get a job. While our tuition continues to go up, though, the quality of our education seems to devalue as more teachers are laid off and more students are pushed into overpopulated classrooms. With less classes being offerred, it'll take us more than 4 years to actually get a bachelor's degree. Since there are other fees that are added to our tuition, a possible way to lower the costs of attending a CSU is to let students choose which services they will actually use and pay for those only. For example, I rarely go to the gym on campus so I shouldn't have to pay for it. This way I can save some money.
ReplyDeleteWow Cal State is raising the fees again, but why? They raise the fees, but don't even get us anything new to enjoy. I heard last year that freshman were supposed to get free iPads with the fee hike, but they didn't get anything. As far as paying $25 more, I am fine with that because financial aid already pays all my fees for me, so as long as I don't have to pay anything then I'm fine. Also since I have a job now and now that I am a taxpayer I hope I still get enough money for financial aid. Again if financial aid fully covers my tuition fees then I'm fine with paying the extra $25, but if I don't get enough money next year then I am against the idea of paying even more money. I just hope this fee hike stuff stops, because how much can they possibly raise it.
ReplyDelete- Sami Wadood
I think it is absolutely ridiculous that tuition prices keep rising. I am actually not getting financial aid and my parents are asking that I pay for at least half of my tuition. I work full time and go to school full time. With the tuition raises, it discourages me a little bit from continuing my education. How does the state think it's fair to raise the cost of my education yet cut all the classes I need in order to graduate? The school is offerring less and less classes every quarter and more and more students are starting to attend leaving it nearly impossible for anybody to graduate in 4 years.
ReplyDeleteI think that the rising tuition costs are ridiculous. I'm not on financial aid, but my parents are the ones who are paying for my education. To see them have to pay more really bothers me. I'm considing taking up a job even though my parents want me to only focus on my studies. Higher tuition plus the layoffs and class cuts that are taking place only hurt the students. It isn't fair that a student may have to spend 6 or 7 years at a school because the CSU has cut most of the classes he/she needs to graduate. The term "Four Year College" doesn't really exist anymore.
ReplyDeletehonestly, i don't see a solution for the tuition increases in the near future. because the people mainly affected by these increase are students, they don't have any serious outlet to voice their displeasure. Strikes or other similar movements will likely fail because the students, not the school, are the ones paying to be on campus and go to class, whether they attend or not. A decent solution for this dilemma is beyond my comprehension level, but I think the first step to a better situation would be removing the Chancellor, if for no other reason as a sign of change in the eyes of the student body.
ReplyDeleteTuition fee is always a big problem for our students. As an international student, my tuition fee is 2 times more than native students. So when I get the news from going up tuition fee, I feel so angry that why we should pay more. Because the fee is already growing up for two time s, this time is the third time. In addition, the parking permit fee is also growing up rapidly (35-130). I think the CSU system should not only raise the tuition to solve the revenue and cost issues. For the blog, it states, “Approximately $64 million in revenue would come from tuition fee revenues associated with enrollment growth of 5 percent (approx. 20,000 students)”, which means if the school enroll more students, so that they will receive more revenues.
ReplyDeleteHowever, here is another phenomenon we need to face, “Is it really true that 45 percent of the CSU student body pays nothing in tuition, so they won't be impacted by the tuition increase? Well, then who will be impacted by the tuition hike? Obviously, parents and students who are paying their college tuition bill, along with the taxpayers. If you have a job, you are a taxpayer - look at your paycheck stub.” As I know, most of middle class families in order to avoid the tuition fee, they will suppose to write a lower Households earning. This is really a bad idea. Because that means the higher tuition fee is depended on less tax payers.
Therefore, in my opinion, only to increase the tuition fee is not a good solution to everyone. Colleges can provide more working opportunities to students who are really cannot afford the high tuition. And then, colleges can find more big sponsors to improve the condition. That’s what I think to solve the tuition issues.
chenxiao zhu
This is absolutely ridiculous! I can't believe that we Students are always the ones to get affected first. Where is the department of education when you need them? How is that they expect for us to be the leaders of tomorrow when they make it extremely impossible to obtain higher education.It is like they do not want us to excel. yes, I understand that life isn't easy, but is it necessary to elevate the cost of school? Do they not read statistics an see that a high level of students depend highly on financial aid, so why would they decide to continue to increase the cost of school
ReplyDeletewhat they need to do is manipulate the school budget in a way that affects the students less than it is happening now. We need help not more B.S
As a student of Cal State East Bay that receives financial aid, I sure will be affected by this increase in tuition as they do every quarter. I am beginning to worry how much more I will have to pay out of my pocket because financial aid is not going to cover everything if these prices keep rocketing. I am currently taking out a loan to compete with the prices of tuition now; I can't even begin to imagine what will happen next year when they increase it significantly.
ReplyDeleteI think that all this increase in tuition is very silly, because the big heads at the top are just giving themselves increases in their earnings, so that we students can pay for their lifestyle. It is unfair that they are increasing tuition once again and we need to let everyone know that this is wrong and unfair.
In order to raise revenues and lower student tuition, I believe we should first forget about the chancellor and all his people taking our money from us. Focus on where the money that the schools do receive goes, for example we don't need over half of our tuition money to go to sports or a brand new gym. Yes, it is nice to have and use, but there are bigger and better things to pay attention to. Like getting new lab equipment or having more funds in GE classes to learn outside of class. Basically, we need to pay more attention to where our tuition money is dispersed, I am not saying don't give money to sports or other categories, just limit the amount that they receive from us, tuition payers and focus it on the people who pay the money.
As a student, the tuition hikes seen since 2009 are more to me than just a 9-12 percent increased fee. It is less extra spending cash per month, fewer to zero vacation trips taken, more money borrowed from SallieMae and more money paid in interest fees to SallieMae. I am all for underprivileged students getting help paying for school, but do not believe anyone should get a free ride. While in college, I have worked consistently 24-32 hours a week. I work to survive, pay my expenses and the loans pay for school and subsidize my needed income. I'm not 4.0 student, but I am here going to school, working hard and doing it myself.
ReplyDeleteTuition fee hikes are inevitable, but Universities can control them to a degree. They can request donations from Alumni, market the school in a more efficient way so that the school offers services through their students as a source of income and share the cost of tuition hikes with everyone across the board. For me as a tax payer and a student, why must I be docked for working hard to put myself through school, pay taxes and have the student sitting next to me be getting a free ride, simply because he/she does not work or their parents make little money. If I can do it, so can any other person and I should not have to pay taxes, the full tuition and fee hikes, with the kid next to me paying nothing!
The fact that tuition keeps rising, it's going to take a bigger toll on my family's income. My parents barely make enough to support my brothers and I but enough to not get a lot of financial aid. It really bothers me because most of the money that my parents make goes to paying my school fees. My parents want me to focus on school but I'm working on getting a job, so my parents don't have to struggle as much.
ReplyDeleteCollege is becoming extremely expensive because of the downfall of the economy and it is hitting the students who are trying to get an education so they can get a good job the hardest. The tuition increase is terrible, if they keep raising it 500 hundred dollars each year no one will go to college because they would not be able to afford it. Some families that are among the poverty line cannot afford to send their children to college because of the increasing prices and the only way to help pay for it is to work( if you can find a job) loans which most people do not want to take out because you have to pay the money back, and scholarships which are very competitive to win. I am a student at CSUEB and I could not afford to come here and live on campus so I had to take out a loan and the most expensive thing at CSUEB is housing which is 11 thousand a year for freshman. If I was in charge I would definitely not raise prices as often as the CSU system does in fact if I could I would lower prices because the students just want to have a better life and it costs to have an education but the prices are ridiculous now. I hope it will get better but it will just get worse.
ReplyDeleteDesiree
It really is unfortunate that college tuiton keeps rising. Since I am currently enrollled in a community college, I do not have to pay a lot for a semester. However, when i transfer to a CSU or UC, I expect tuiton to be expensive. I see no real solution for tuiton rates also, i see them getting more expensive as time goes on. Hopefully they eventually find a way to decrease tuiton in the future so it makes going to college easier for future generations.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a progressive tuition plan would be the most fair. An education is something anybody should have the opportunity to have and money issues shouldn't be the reason why you can't further your education. But also for the students who's family make a lot their tuition shouldn't be outrageously high just because they can afford it better. A lot of families who are said to make too much money can't are still struggling after all the expenses they have to pay other than for their children's college tuition. I wouldn't be impacted that much since I have basically a full scholarship to go to school at CSUEB, it is just my housing that I have to take out loans for, and that already is completely overpriced. To raise more revenue for the CSUEB I would invest in getting a football team. I feel like even though that would be a huge expense it would pay for itself and more. Having a football team can turn Hayward into a real college town like how Berkeley is from UC Berkeley. I do not know for sure but I assume UC Berkeley makes a lot of money off of royalties from all stuff sold with their name on it.
ReplyDeleteCSU budgets just keep increasing more threw out the years. Staying in school is getting harder for many students because they don't have the money to pay for school. Yes they could get a job, but then they wont have the time to focus on school. This is why many students are ready to give up. The stress of paying for school while keeping your grades up on top of a job is too much to handle for many students. Knowing tuition is going up is just another reason it keeps students from not going to college. In the economy we are living in today you cannot get a decent well paying job without a high education then high school but the CSU board is just making harder for us to succeed. It should be based on how much a family makes but also how many siblings the have etc. I think by doing this it would help many students stay in school and encourage them to go.
ReplyDeleteBudgets increase almost every year, even the students such as myself who do receive financial aid will feel this tuition increase. Grants are free money, but loans are not. The more tuition climbs the more Students will have to rely on loans to cover costs. For the students that don't qualify for FA (like many of my friends) this leaves them working 2 jobs, or stressing there parents out for more and more "dough". It doesn't make sense to me for the need to increase tuition, when every year more and more students are attending this school. When I was in high school I had never heard of CSUEB until representatives from the school visited my high school and gave a presentation. With higher enrollment numbers I would expect tuition to stay the same. The only logical explanation I cant think of would be a need for more facilities and services. Regardless of how many new students are enrolling I'm not sure that it would take $333 Million to accommodate us all.
ReplyDeleteAs a college student not receiving financial aid or grants because my parents income is too high but then my parents don't pay a dime of my tuition because they still can't afford it, where do I fit in on the aid scale? Everyone should be treated equally when it comes to financial aid and grants. College students are adults now, the government doesn't need to use the parents income to see if students can afford college, it needs to be based off the students income. Like everything else once you turn 18 you're an adult and are responsible for your own actions. If someone can't afford college then they need to take out loans or get a job, not expect the government to feel sorry for them because their parents don't make enough money. Anyone can have a high paying job if they put work and effort into what they do. Personally for me if college tuition keeps rising then I need to take out more loans and work more.
ReplyDeleteI think it is ridiculous that tuition has become so high. As a student who doesn't receive any financial aid I think it is unfair that so many students use financial aid money as spending money because they have left over money. Paying out of pocket for tuition is hard and no one should have to get into debt because they want a higher education. I think financial aid should hand out exact amount of money to cover tuition and use the 'leftover' money to give to people who don't qualify for bigger grants.
ReplyDelete